Las Vegas: MGM wraps up $80 million Delano hotel transformation

The Delano hotel tower sits next to the MGM’s Mandalay Bay resort in Las Vegas.

When I went to Las Vegas in 2012 to speak at travel agency Virtuoso’s convention, I made a point of carving time out to tour the glittering gold tower next to MGM Resort’s Mandalay Bay (photo above) that was slated to become a boutique-chic Delano Hotel. It was a big deal back then because Vegas didn’t have so-called boutique or lifestyle hotels, except for the Cosmopolitan.

The renovation’s been in the works for years, but now it’s almost ready for prime time. When I head to Vegas next month for our BoardingArea.com blogger convention (woohoo!), you can be sure I’ll check it out. The Delano’s website says rooms can be booked as a “Delano” experience beginning Sept. 1.

Now, obviously, the Delano is not a boutique hotel given its huge number of rooms. But I expect it to have a boutique mentality. The goal in partnering with Delano’s owner – Morgans Hotel Group, after all, was to make the tower into a trendy, chic property that will do a better job appealing to people who probably like the Cosmopolitan hotel’s sense of style and cheeky attitude – and may not be there to do much gambling.

MGM spent about $80 million renovating the tower, the Review-Journal story told us. The building was just 11 years old. Here’s a link to my 2012 story in USA TODAY.

The hotel will be operated under a license agreement with MGM.

For Morgans Hotel Group, by the way, inking a deal with MGM Resorts demonstrated a major coup in its goal to create a luxury hotel brand out of the famed Delano – the Art Deco hotel on South Beach re-envisioned in the 1980s by boutique hotel pioneer and master promoter Ian Schrager.

Readers: What do you think about the Delano opening in Las Vegas – or, for that matter, other so-called lifestyle hotels such as the SLS on the opposite end of the Las Vegas Strip?

An accomplished newspaper journalist (USA TODAY staff 2002-2013) and relentless social media enthusiast, Barb wakes up at dawn seven days a week to search for, write and edit stories that resonate with travelers and travel business insiders. She craves stories that teach us something about life or business, make us laugh, shed light on our future or help make our journeys a little easier– or at least more interesting.